Officer Down
by The-crazy-lone-wolf77
Summary: You never know what you have until one day it's not there anymore...
A haunting, thick eerie fog rolled through the streets of Zootopia, bringing along with it a light drizzle from the giant dark clouds that blocked the sun from shinning on this day. All this seemed to tie the mood of the day together perfectly in one big cruel gift basket from mother nature.

For most of the citizens of Zootopia, it was just another normal day of dreary weather as cars raced up and down the roads and animals walked the sidewalks, all of them going on with their busy days as they alays do. Some knew of the events that had transpired not long ago and held it in the back of their minds, feeling only a little bit of sorrow, but not much since in all honesty it had no real affect on their lives. Others may recall the events if you were to remind them, but most have forgotten about it as they went back to their normal, everyday, busy lives. But for a specific group of assorted animals, they have all but forgotten.

On the northern outskirts of Downtown Zootopia near tundratown, were the fog seems to be at its thickest, a lone bunny stands in a clearing, her head hanging low as she stares at the ground, tears staining her cheeks. Her eyes red and puffy from the immense crying she had done. There had been others with her earlier, many others, but they had all long ago left, leaving only her standing out getting drenched by the rain, her police uniform soaking wet. But she could care less about how wet she was. She wouldn't care if someone was stabbing her in the back, she wasn't going to move from that spot.

She still couldn't believe, didn't want to believe, what had happened. And just when she thought her life was getting to be it's best. She was one of Zootopias best cops, being the face of it all. She finally got enough to move out of that small little apartment that she had stayed in when she first arrived. Everything just seemed to be falling into place for her. Then IT happened. No one could have ever expected it to happen. Things like this just weren't very common. But it did, and it was killing Judy from the inside.

She might have accomplished so many things in her two and a half years on the force, but none of it could have been possible without him. The fox that had, as he liked to call it, hustled her the first day they met, causing a domino affect of other events to occur that ultimately led to their great friendship. If you were ever to hear how they met, you would be amazed at how they could be such great friends. Of course, not only was the fox Judy's friend, he was her partner. And against all odds, ignoring all the stereotypical things about being predator and pray, they made one hell of a team. Who would have thought?

But now, as Judy looked down at the freshly buried grave, she knew that everything that they had, all of what they built as a friendship and partnership, was gone. He was gone. Her whole world had come crashing down around her in a matter of minutes. She can still remember with great detail of what had happened two weeks ago. How could she forget when it was the only thing she could dream about. The shock, the blood, the feeling of his body going limp in her arms. It was all too much for her, too much. It was just to hard to accept that Nick was gone.

It had been quit a funeral, though. Even if many of the residents of Zootopia could have cared less, Nick still had his brothers and sisters in blues. It wasn't just the First Precinct that had attended; no matter the cop, there is always a large attendance of police from all across Zootopia in many different precincts. It made Judy happy to see them all there, she knows Nick would have loved the attention.

Yet, the memory of it all still played like a movie in her head, not wanting to leave her mind anytime soon. It wanted to torment her, break her down into a beaten shell of a rabbit. And she didn't know how much longer she could take it.

 _It was a slow day for the two cops, nothing really happening much around them. It had been a day of patrolling up and down the streets of Downtown. It was hard to believe that no one was doing anything to catch the attention of the two, not even someone speeding. Of course, they weren't really in the bad parts of the city. The western part of downtown definitely had the lowest crime rate out of the other sections. It was particularly bad in the southern parts where crime ran ramped through the streets. Still, it was an odd sight to see._

 _For Judy, of course, she didn't mind if the day was slow. She saw it as a good thing, that animals were being the best that they could be. Though, she still kept a keen eye out for anything that needed their attention. As for Nick, well he was more on the winy side of it._

 _"Come on, there's got to be someone doing something wrong. I can't just wait around all day and not see some action." Nick complained to his partner, earning a smile from the rabbit._

 _"Oh come on Nick, it could be worse" She argued. "You could have parking duty."_

 _"I suppose you're right, Carrots," He admitted. "And I guess it's not all that bad, I do have you here with me," He commented with a sly smile aimed at Judy. Her face suddenly become warm with a blush. Nick was always one to flirt, especially with Judy. He didn't really mean anything by it though, he just liked to get her a little flustered every now and then._

 _There was a silence between the two for a while as they resumed their job in trying to protect and serve the citizens. Unfortunately, they couldn't do that if no one did anything wrong._

 _"H- hey Judy?" Nick suddenly called out, sounding a bit nervous. Judy perked her ears up when she heard this. It was rare to hear her real name come from Nick. Usually it was one of the nicknames that he gave her like Carrots, or whiskers, or something like that. So she knew that he wanted to talk serious._

 _"I've been thinking long and hard about something for awhile now, and was hoping to talk with you over some things. Obviously not here, work isn't really the appropriate place for personal issues, but I was hoping you would come over tonight and we could... talk" He said while scratching the back of his head. This interested her. What could be so important that he needed to talk to her alone in private? She shrugged and told him sure._

 _"Just, is everything alright. You seem kind of serious, and nervous?" She questioned him. He hit her with a reassuring smile._

 _"Everything's fine, I just to talk to you for a while is all" He assured her, causing her to shrug her shoulders and nod her head._

 _Again, there was silence as they resumed doing their job. Except Judy's mind wasn't really focused on the streets in front of her. Her mind wandered and wanted to know what it could be that Nick was getting so worked up about. She really couldn't think of anything, and she knew almost everything about this fox. Herself and said fox had really gotten to know each other over the past year, after the events of the missing mammals. They both just clicked so naturally with each other, it's like they were meant to be friends._

 _Judy was suddenly yanked from her thoughts as Nick called her name and tapped on her shoulder. She gave out a questioning 'mhmm' before following Nicks paw with her gaze. Her stare fell upon a couple animals who were wearing hoodies, one gesturing towards the alley and looking around before he himself walked after them. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't have caught their attention, but that fact that it was almost a hundred degrees that day, it sparked a little curiosity into them. Who in their right mind who wear anything but a light t-shirt in this blazing heat. It also didn't help their case that they also had their hoods on, as if they didn't want anyone to see their faces. It was just all around a little to suspicious for them to not check it out._

 _The two turned to each other and nodded knowingly. It was obvious that something was going down._

 _"Finally! I thought I'd be stuck in here with you all day" Judy teased as she jumped out of the police cruiser. Nick followed closely behind with his usual smirk._

 _"Oh, you know you love me" He chuckled as they made their way towards the alley way. Once there, the two of them looked down the passage to see four animals gathered around. They couldn't tell any of the species of said animals, but that didn't really matter. They stepped around the corner and walked down towards the four._

 _"Evening there gentleman" Nick called out to them, immediately gaining their attention. They all looked at the two cops who were walking closer. It was now revealed that there were two wolves and two bears._

 _Seeing the two cops, the wolves immediately shoved their paws into their coats._

 _"A little warm for the jackets, don't you think?" Nick questioned suspiciously._

 _"What are you, the fashion police?" One of the wolves scoffed._

 _"No, we just think it's a little odd to be wearing them in a hundred degree weather." Judy pointed out._

 _"Well, we're just a couple of friends hanging out. So unless you want to arrest us for nothing, we'll be on our way." One of the grizzlies growled. Nick and Judy looked all four of them up and down. It was obvious that they were all hiding something, probably a drug trade or something of that sort. But they had no proof of that, and without any reasonable cause they weren't aloud to touch them._

 _"Fine, I guess you can go." Judy sighed, a little disappointed. I guess she should have suspected that. The animals glared at us as they walked by. Nick just smiled at them as they passed. Even though he himself was also a bit annoyed, the smile was more of a mock to make the animals even angrier at him than they already were. He just seemed to love to get on the bad side of almost anyone. It was funny how in the end, that same attitude is the same thing that makes you like the guy. It distracted them enough that one of the wolves didn't even notice where he was walking. Without warning, the wolf tripped and fell face first onto the ground. Unfortunately for him, whatever he had shoved into his coat pocket earlier came flying out onto the ground. Judy quickly hopped over to it before any of them could try and pick it up._

 _"Now what do we have here?" Judy questioned with a brow raised. In her hand she held a neatly folded bag of a white, powdery substance that was easily recognizable as cocaine. The three others looked down threateningly at the wolf who had tripped. What luck for the two cops, or so they thought._

 _"Alright, I'm sure you know the drill. Up against the wall" Nick ordered them and they complied. Nick started parting down one of them and Judy another as they read out the animals rights. But it seemed that one of the grizzlies didn't feel like playing friendly. While Judy was checking him, he swatted his massive paw at the little bunny sending her flying into the wall on the other side of the alley. In the blink of an eye Nick had drawn out his tranquilizer gun, but the bear was already around the corner._

 _"Crap! You ok whiskers?" Nick called out to her, now fixing his gun on the other three making sure none of them tried anything. She got up with a slight groan._

 _"Yah, I'm fine." She said. She looked at the way the bear ran off and in an instance she took off after him. She heard Nick call after her, but ignored his concerned pleas. She wasn't going to let this bastard get away._

 _Nick sighed as he watched his partner round a corner and go in pursuit of the bear. He sighed, realizing his pleas were in vain. He knew that once Judy put her mind to something, she wouldn't back down. Even if that meant taking down an animal 10 times her size. The image in his head made him chuckle._

 _"I feel a little sorry for your friend" He commented to the three he had up against the wall, still having his tranquilizer fixed on them._

 _It was lucky for Judy that the bear wasn't really that fast, and that this passage was very long. She sprinted after him, ready to do whatever it took to take down the massive animal. He might be bigger than her immensely, but she didn't graduate at the top of her class for nothing. She had come within striking distance, ready to take this guy to the ground. Then it happened._

 _When she heard the sound, she immediately came to a halt. The grizzly gave a glance over his shoulder with a small, knowing smirk. Fear ran through Judy's veins, and her blood ran cold. She'd only heard that sound one other time, and it was during her time at the Academy durine a training session. It was the sound of a gun going off._

 _Without any more hesitation, she took off as fast as she could back down the way she came. She never thought that she'd ever have to deal with guns, they were a thing that had long ago been banned from the city. It was a rare case for them to show up. As she ran she couldn't help but plead for Nick to be ok, that he'd be fine. She'd make it around the corner and she'd find him standing over the animal with a cocky smile plastered on his face. But when she did make it back, she realized her greatest fear had come true._

 _On the ground were lying two of the animals, one of the bears and one of the wolves, with darts protruding out of each of their bodies. Nick had always been a quick and accurate shot, but obviously not quick enough. She gasped once she saw him. He was sat with his back against the brick wall, both of his paws clenched tightly over his stomach. Even from where she stood, Judy could see and smell the blood oozing out of Nicks stomach._

 _"Nick!" She shouted in fear, sprinting over to him in a panic. "Talk to me Nick" She pleaded. She was relieved once he moved his head towards her with a small smile._

 _"Hey there Judes" He managed to rasp out. Once she realized that he was actually still with her, she immediately brought her radio up to her mouth. She began shouting a few things into it with urgency. It was Clawhauser on the other end getting hit with her nonstop screams. He was a little freaked out at her outburst, she had never been like that. But once he found out the reason, he understood why. He sent help their way as quickly as he could. They'd get there in about seven minutes. Unfortunately, they might not have that long._

 _Even after Judy tried her best to stop the bleeding, the wound was still oozing. She could tell that she was losing him and she couldn't take it. The state he was on just showed how much of a chance he had of makeing it. Sweat dripped from his fur, as his body was in a constant shiver. His eyes already halfway closed and seeming like any second they would close for good. She couldn't lose him, she didn't know what she'd do without him. He was her colleague, her partner, her best friend._

 _"Hey whiskers, remember earlier that I said I wanted to talk to you about something?" Nick painfully asked._

 _"Not now Nick, you need to save your strength. You can tell me later." She told him, still working on trying to stop the bleeding. Nick shook his head, understanding that there wasn't going to be a later._

 _"Judy" He said softly as he put a paw on her cheek. She stopped what she was doing and slowly looked up to meet his dark green eyes. Her own were filled to the brim with tears, she couldn't believe this happened to them. She let out a weak sigh and nodded her head._

 _"I've known you for a couple of years now" He stated slowly in between breaths. "And I can honestly say that your the only true friend I've ever had." Judy's lip was now quivering. He kept talking like he thought he was going to die, but she wasn't going to let him, not on her watch. She tried to start doing something again, but Nick stopped her and shook his head._

 _"There's no point" He whispered._

 _"No!" She shouted, "I'm not losing you. Not now, not ever." She cried out, earning a small chuckle from Nick._

 _"You bunnies, always so emotional" Judy couldn't help but smile at his comment. Something he had said awhile back that had still stuck with them._

 _"Judy, I just want you to know..." He was interrupted by a violent fit of coughing and wheezing. That's when they started to hear the sirens of police cars and ambulances._

 _"Your going to make it Nick, there coming, help is almost here. Just stay with me for a little longer." She cried out._

 _"Judy, I- I L-Lo-love you" And with those final words, Nicks last breath escaped him. His body became limp in her arms and she could feel the life leave him. Judy saw this and her eyes became wide and the hysteria started to set in. She shouted his name over and over, pleading for him to come back to him as she clung onto his lifeless body. Praying that she would wake up from this nightmare. But her pleas went unanswered. Nick was gone and there was nothing that she, or anyone else could do._

 _A few other police officers were the first to arrive at the scene, this included the chief. He tied to talk to the rabbit, first trying to calmly talk to her but eventually resorted to yelling at her. Even that didn't break her from her state of shock. She had just lost one of the most important parts of her life, all in the blink of an eye._

And now she stood, two weeks later, over her partners grave. She still held this feelings of pain, depression and guilt running through her body. And with everything everyone tried to do for her, it seemed like nothing could bandage up her emotional wounds.

She was more than glad to hear that the wolf that had shot Nick had been caught and was now sitting in jail waiting for his court date. He was lucky she wasn't there when he was brought in, because she wouldn't have shown any mercy on that son of a bitch. The other three that were with him were also caught, all going to be prosecuted for possession of illegal drugs, and association with the murder of a cop.

After these two weeks, it was those three little words that had stuck with her and caused her the most pain. Those words kept her up at night crying for hours at a time as she thought to herself of what could have been if only Nick hadn't been shot that night. They could be happily dating right now, because she had undoubtedly loved that fox too. She just wished that she could have told him that herself. Nicks Final words of 'I love you' broke her more than anything that could ever be said.

It didn't help her that she blamed this on herself. If she hadn't left him there all alone with three criminals, if she had put her ego aside and thought a little, then maybe Nick might still be here. Things could be different. Instead of standing here moping around, she could be off with Nick, either worker or just hanging out. But those options had faded and were never going to be available. Then there was the salt that had been rubbed into her wounds. Seeing his family in shambles.

Nick had reconnected with his family after joining the force. It was a really heart warming moment to see Nick reunite with his mom and dad after so long. He even found out that he had a younger brother who was nine years of age. Tim was his name, and he looked up to Nick like he was a superhero. It was Judy who, unfortunately, had to break the bad news to them. It wasn't a pretty sight either. She just had to stand there as the family broke down in front of her, while herself tried to keep it together.

All of this just kept biting away at her soul, making her just fall into a deeper depression.

"This is all my fault." She finally whispered out, not really expecting anyone to hear her.

"No, it's not." A voice called out to her, but it would go unheard to the bunny's ears. A figure walked up behind her and put their paws on her shoulders, but she felt nothing.

"Please don't blame yourself." The figure whispered into her ear, even if he knew that she couldn't hear him. But he couldn't just watch her tear herself apart. It was normal to feel sad in these situations, but what she was doing to herself was just unhealthy.

It was weird, all of a sudden Judy felt a warmth consume her. A feeling of peace fell over her and she felt as though everything was going to be alright. She couldn't really explain it, but it was comforting.

"Please just be happy, for me." The figure whispered again, as he hugged Judy tightly. "Please, just go and be what I know you can be. Continue to make a difference in this crazy world, because I know you can. You sly bunny, you."

For some reason, Judy smiled for the first time in weeks. She couldn't explain it, but it was as if someone was comforting her, telling her that everything was going to be ok. There was really only one explication she could come up with, even if it seemed farfetched.

"I love you Nick" She murmured. Nick smiled, happy that she had realized he was there.

"I love you too, Carrots" He said with a kiss to the top of her head.

Judy smiled even brighter. He may be dead, but she knew that he would never leave her.

'You stubborn fox' she thought to herself happily. It was then that Judy realized how much Nick actually loved her. That even in death he wouldn't leave her. Of course, she might just be going crazy, and her mind was playing tricks on her by trying to fill in a hole that was left when Nick died. She didn't seem to think so, though. This felt to genuine. This felt real. This was love.

 **Well, this is definitely different for me. Writing for something else seems kind of weird considering I wrote for one thing for three years, and only now I decided to branch out a little. But I just couldn't help myself. I loved the movie to much not to try and write something.**

 **Like I said, it's a little out of my comfort zone, but I hope you like it. Thanks for taking the time to read it.**


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